BY LEIGH KAMPING-CARDER on April 25, 2014
We don’t envy the tenants of 22 River Terrace, a 342-unit apartment tower in Battery Park City. The new owner plans to take it condo, and is relying on an unusual clause in the tenants’ leases to kick them out with a mere 90 days notice.
Fortunately for the rest of us, such clauses are extraordinarily rare. Most of the time, when a building goes condo, renters are given the option to remain as tenants or purchase their apartment at an insider price, which is typically at least 5 to 10 percent lower than what they'd pay on the open market, says real estate attorney and buyout expert Steven Wagner of Wagner Berkow.
Here's how the process usually plays out--and how not to get played if it happens to you.
Size up the plans
Before a developer can convert a building and start selling condos, they must get their "offering plan"—which describes the development plans in mind-numbing detail—approved by the New York Attorney General’s office.
As a tenant, the first you'll see of this is the "red herring," a preliminary plan that earned its name because the words on the cover are bright red. (Yes, that’s what passes for a joke in bureaucratic circles.)
The attorney general's office has to wait four months before reviewing the red herring, which gives tenants time to evaluate the specifics of the plan and negotiate a better deal. While it's legal for a developer to craft a plan that involves evicting the tenants, those kinds of projects are virtually non-existent these days, Wagner says.
After that, the attorney general and the developer spend up to two months ironing out any issues in the red herring. Once the agency accepts it for filing—which is different from the final approval for the development—the document is called a “black book.” (And yes, it does have black letters on the cover.) At that point, the developer can start selling the condos, including to existing tenants.
Lawyer up
Typically, tenants hire an attorney to do the negotiating with the developer. They’ll also hire an engineer or architect to inspect the building and uncover any issues that aren’t disclosed in the red herring.
Full article on Brick Underground